A DIALOGUE BETWEEN HUMAN AND NATU R E

architecture as a medium for the perception

Laura Nielen
How can an artificial element strengthen the connection between humans and nature, and help individuals
to perceive and establish a new dialogue with it ?

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN HUMAN AND NATU R E

architecture as a medium for the perception
 ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to show how humans are able to establish
a direct connection with nature, even when using artificial intervention.
In fact, through human imagination and its expression in the creative
action, a rapprochement is possible in the world, between nature and
individuals; humans should not be only observers but rather collabora-
tive partners.
The graft within architectural object and landscape, needs to creates a
symbiosis between nature and artifice, where both, while managing to
hold their own identity and recognition, are designed and modified in
such a way that the result of their synergy is better than the two single
individuals. This new synergy need to be able to prepare the ground
for the engagement of that artefact that through its artificiality creates
and reveals a landscape, or a place that did not exist before. The graft
is an operation that should strengthens, gives and shows the meaning
of the place. 5

The architectural object should become a medium for humans’ percep-

tion of the natural environment.
The research wants to lead to a design that is meant to be inspires for
the users, to connect the built environment with the natural one in an
intimate and contemplative way.
6 note:

Most of the arguments and concepts touched in the research are expressed and explained also
through the use of photographs which sometimes can be more communicative than words. The
research, therefore is implemented by a visual diary that tries to show in a sort of vision, the
meaning of the whole research.
 RESEARCH STRUCTURE

The structure of this research is made of three main chapters:

Man is nature; The in-between realm; The body memory;
And a fourth one, which serves as an introduction for the design project
and, at the same time works as conclusion for the first part.
The contents of each chapter, is a combination of theoretical research,
reference projects, and experimentations made on the basis of the
knowledge acquired from the theoretical part.
The first chapter focuses mainly on the relationship between human
and nature in a philosophical an historical way. It gives an overview on
how we have been interacting with the land during the history and how
we see this connection now.
The second chapter is more related to the kind of formal interpretation
that I want to give to the design, in relationship to the philosophical ide-
ology of the first one. In this section there is a combination of theory and
case studies on contemporary architectural projects that in my opinion 7
translate well the kind of space and geometrical composition that I want
to achieve in my design.
The third chapter instead, focuses more on the way we perceive ar-
chitecture and the space: a sensorial perception. Also in this cas ex-
periments are combined with theory in order to build up a background
knowledge for the subsequent design process.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS I ABSTRACT 5
II RESEARCH STRUCTURE 7

1. MAN IS NATURE 11

Human and nature as part of the same system 12

A return to nature 16
Sense of primitive 18
Symbolisms and meanings 20
Not simply survival 22
A theory of human motivation 24
Architecture as a human’s activity whit-in the realm of nature 26
The Sublime experience 29
A medium for the perception 32
Human-Nature dichotomy 34
Image as an evidence 38
8
2. THE IN-BETWEEN REALM 43

Synergy between different realms 44

Zen theory applied to the design 46
The significance of shadows 48
A hidden dimension - the space between the forms 50
Case study research 52
 The space shaper 60
The meaning of space 68

3. THE BODY MEMORY 73

The power of perception 74

Abstraction of the elements 78
Framing the world - experiments with photography 85
Architecture as an art of mediation 96
A presence in the space 100
A new protagonist: the landscape 102
Transmitted image 112

4. CONCLUSION 117

5. THE PROJECT 119

9
The statement 120
A dialogue with the island 123
Formal translation 126

III Images references 159

IV Bibliography 163
 The relationship binding individuals and the environment is of primary importance, since nature is
10 the background to the framework of our existence.

In fact, we are destined to blossom and decompose in its vast array, but our
ambition and talents combined, challenge us for something more than just survival.

We aspire to make a mark, to write down our observations and actions in the landscape in an
attempt to understand and embrace ourself and the space in which we live.
11
 MAN IS NATURE Man is part of nature itself, and at the same time is also in a way autono-
1.1 Human and nature as part of the same system mous subject that, depending on the situation, can assume the role of allay
and partner or opponent and sometimes even enemy. The relationship be-
tween man and nature is one of the crucial issues of the twenty-century from
which, as a matter of fact depends also much of the future quality of life of
mankind. It is good to realize that, we are part of a unique system.

Today we know quite well what ‘Man’ is. Is an animal, a part in all respect of
natural cycles, he feed himself, he grows, he reproduces and dies like other
mammals. The concept of, Man being part of the nature, might be easier
accepted if we consider the planet earth not only in the present moment,
but also as a cycle of the million of years of its life, during which it saw the
rise and flatter of mountains, moving continents, drying inland seas, deserts
formation, succession of warm and cold periods, appearing of new animal
species, including humans and entire plant extinction, as a result of cata-
strophic events.
Never the less it can be said that nature has also dynamic rhythms, differ-
12
ent times from the one of human kinds. Nature follows its essential physical
low of necessity; it does not know the concept of wanting or discretionary
needs.
Relentless in its beauty and expressive power, still its devastating destruc-
tive energy is visible to all.
The attraction towards nature has always therefore been quite conflicting,
since on one hand we are attracted to it but on the other hand we are sub-
missive and powerless against its power. Somehow it might be because in
the depth of nature we are able to discover our deepest self but since we
have no control over it we feel somehow lost and in danger.
Therefore, is easy to understand why the relationship between man and
nature always existed, even if during the history it has experienced different
stages.

13
14 In the depth of nature we are able to discover our deepest self.
Close up on a small leaf Blood vessels of human heart River network 15
 MAN IS NATURE ‘Back to the roots’ used to justify the need for change in our way of living. In
1.2 A return to nature the context of Environmental crisis is an expression that implies there was a
time in the history when mankind had some sort of favourable relationship
with nature that was lost and is missed today. Something that resembles the
biblical Garden of Eden, a place of peace and harmony between all animate
and inanimate beings.

The relationship between man and nature and the ensuring worldwide threat
to the ecological balance are both crucial issues of the twenty-century from
which, as a matter of fact depends also much of the future quality of life of
mankind.
Against all logics, our society based on functionalism and technology, is still
seeking a technological solution to a crisis generated by this same technol-
ogy. The realization that the crisis facing the environment is being caused
by man, started just recently to be gradually accepted.
Man is part of nature itself, therefore it is good to realize that, we are part of
a unique system.
16
The attempts, is hence a way back to nature, considered as the only space
which allows sensory perception and instinct, space in which a relationship
between man and the environment becomes possible again.
17
 MAN IS NATURE One of the clearest sign of human intervention on the land, is the building
1.3 Sense of primitive activity. Nowadays the reasons why we build could be plenty but if we go
back to the primitive experience is possible to see how the first need that
human kind tried to satisfy was the need of protection.
History shows clearly that the instinctive need for security and ease is the
essential reason why started to build.

The cave is the very first habitable environment, where humans for the first
time dealt with their most basic need, shelter through conscious interven-
tion.
The cave allowed them to feel protected from harm and free from anxiety or
doubt, and the minute they went inside, they gained a very different under-
standing of who they were and began to evolve in way that was quite differ-
ent from what would have happened if they had stayed outside.
The story of the evolution of the interior is thus a reflective history of us and
our intrinsic need to improve our experience of the world. This is the reason
why we design.
18

The first attempts to building - tents and huts - were appropriated from the
shape of the cave. They often took on a circular shape, which is both easy
to construct and responds to the onward radiation of the fireplace.
The idea of shelter that the cave offered was not lost or forgotten, but sur-
vives in trace form, as recreated and adapted in other types of dwelling
when people spread across the world.
Somehow the experience of the cave was a prelude
to what only much later would become permanent
shelter.

In my opinion, the fundamental DNA of the spaces

we build today should be the same as that of the
crude shelter humans originally made.

It is the same in architecture as in all other arts: its

principles are founded on simple nature, and na-
ture’s processes clearly indicates its rules.
If we look at man in his primitive state, without any
aid or guidance other than his natural instincts is
easy to understand that he is basically in a need of
a place where to rest.

19
 MAN IS NATURE
Sense of primitive - symbolism and meanings

THE SHELTER:

A shelter can be defined as a structure affording

protection from rain, wind, or sun. In a wider sense,
anything that can serve as a screen or a place of
refuge, from the weather or other dangers. It provide
also: the state of mind of being sheltered; the state
of being protected from elements and security from
attack.
Is important to note that the definition also suggests
20 a sensory or emotional experience. These feelings
of protection were captured in the first build envi-
ronment and must continue to be addressed in the
space we build today for human life.
Even in its most minimal forms early shelter satisfied
- or attempted to satisfy - emotional and sensory de-
sires that the outside world alone could not provide.
 “It is like an immaterial alcove, a warm cave carved into the space itself, a
zone of hot weather with floating boundaries.”

-Marcel Proust | Remembrance of things past, Combray | helsinki, 1968-

FIRE PLACE:

Fire is what first brought people together, forming

a community around the comfort of a controlled
source of warmth. This, in turn, led to the epochal
discovery of language. This first ‘gathering of men’,
brought them into ‘conversation with one-another’
whereas before there had only been ‘purely indi-
vidual ... utterance of sound’.
(Vitrivius, The Book on Architecture)
21
The ‘fireplace’ is able to create a simple but well
known experience: sitting around the fire, enjoy-
ing the warmth and watching the flames are part of
common memory. It is a moment of connection and
share within humans and nature.
 MAN IS NATURE Early humans sought a place for personal safety, but the ability to enjoy
1.4 Not simply survival sensory pleasures privately and without fear of danger gave rise to a new
range of experiences, chief among them comfort. Finding the cave was the
beginning of making void space habitable for discovery, nature and well-
being, and not simply survival.

The paintings in the earliest caves - regardless of their original purpose -

where an intentional change of the wall surface, possibly for the purpose of
adornment or to claim the territory, but certainly beyond any basic functional
requirements. The paintings are evidence of that need that humans have to
go beyond simple survival, but also to express themselves and better their
sensory perception.
Therefore is easy to understand how the design and the creative process, in
general describes how human’s mind identify and solves problems in a way
to satisfy us functionally, physiologically and aesthetically at the same time.

If looking at the history we can then define different main reasons why we
22
intervene on this land, examples could be seen in buildings for worship
(churches, temples etc), recognition (representative buildings), or orienta-
tion.
 “Throughout the history of human race, 23
architecture, the mother of all arts, has supplied
shrines for religion, homes for the living, and
monuments for the dead.”

WORSHIP RECOGNITION ORIENTATION

 MAN IS NATURE As a general definition a need is something that is necessary for organisms
1.5 A theory on human motivation to live a healthy life. Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs
are inborn, and they have been evolving over tens of thousands of years.
To most psychologists, need is a psychological feature that arouses an or-
ganism to action toward a goal, giving purpose and direction to behaviour.
The most widely known academic model of needs was proposed by psy-
chologist Abraham Maslow in his paper “A theory for human Motivation” in
the 1943. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these
needs motivate us all.
In his theory, he proposed that people have a hierarchy of psychological
needs, which range from security to self-actualization.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn,
starting with the firsts, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival
itself. Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being
are satisfied, we are concerned with the higher order needs of influence and
personal development.
If looking at the theory from a wider perspective the last three steps, in a
24 way, show also why we differ from other creatures on earth, and the reason
why we are not only looking to satisfy basic ones.
 morality,
creativity,
spontaneity,
problem solving,
lack of prejudice,
self-actuation acceptance of facts

self-esteem, confidence,
achievement, respect of others,
self-esteem respect by others

friendship, family, sexual intimacy

love/belongings 25

security of: body, employment, resources,

morality, family, health, property
safety

breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion

physiological
 MAN IS NATURE Architecture might be the most striking exhibit of our understanding of na-
1.6 Architecture as a human’s activity within the ture as it is identified with civilization. It is not a coincidence that we started
realm of nature distinguishing civilizations with the settlement of the first cities. Architecture
and urbanization were always a visible sign of human progress because of
the contrast with nature – cities were established in the wilderness and step
by step they became a safe haven for people and their activities. Since ar-
chitecture fulfil one of the most basic human need, need for a shelter, it has
inadvertently become synonymous of a barrier that protects people from the
dangers of the beastly nature, harsh climate and so on.

Architecture, at the same time can be considered as a complex discipline,

where technical and artistic knowledge blend together, and obviously influ-
ence each other. The architect, while developing a project, will remember,
compare choose and rework a huge stock of possible solutions, coming to
the final outcome step by step.
An architecture that wants to establish a dialogue with nature must, at the
same time develop a dialogue with humans, architecture become the con-
26
nector between the two elements that are part of the same system. By deal-
ing with humans’ perception, architecture need to be able to create feelings
and certain atmospheres. Therefore, is not only the shape per-se important,
but also the reaction that this shape provoke on humankind. The goal is an
architecture able to communicate. Architecture is physically present in the
space and therefore can be perceived by our senses and influences our
perception.
Basically architecture could be defined as a difficult “art” made of simple
elements, is like a kind of oratory made of shape and feelings. We, as hu-
man beings, have to stay constantly in strong relation with what is all around
us, whether this is pure nature or artificial object, and therefore buildings are
one of the most common presences in our live.
The sins of architecture emerge form its very nature as an artificial construc-
tion, but are also the results of why and how we have built over the centu-
ries. The act of making a building assumes that the land we walk on is not
enough. We must enclose a space with walls and put a roof over our heads
to protect ourselves.

Therefore, if looking at the history, at the beginning buildings were just el-
ements for the protection or place for worship or to help the orientation,
subsequently they became objects for the defence, and in more recent time
for recognition. Nowadays, they can be seen as monuments to our ability
to gather material, form it according to abstract principles, and make build-
ings that stands tall and proud while sheltering an interior that is rational
27
and functional. Is also true, though that in recent years, new currents of
thought, have once again become more aware of the reality of the land and
the fact that we are inevitably closely linked. Architects have become more
and more fascinated by landscape. Instead of seeing buildings as autono-
mous appearances on the land, they understand them as part of the land
that happens to coalesce or congeal into a solid structure.
Architecture in this sense is not the making of something new, but
 reformation, of what already exists in a form that accepts the mark of human
intervention.

If we think of an architecture made of light, shapes, materials, symbols,

we could imagine an object that proposes itself as a dissolved and soft
presence; transgressive but not piercing, uninhibited, unusual, obviously
artificial, but not arrogant, authoritative, not authoritarian. This kind of ap-
proach tents to a type of architecture that lies horizontally, wedging and
compressing in the free spaces.
Moreover, is undeniable that humans beings are part of the nature their
self, and as inhabitants of the earth they perceive and learn form it, with the
experience and the memory.
The nature’s inspiration should therefore be natural and somehow uninten-
tional, and should comes only from the simple fact that we live in this world,
we grow up and change in it, we think and we remember. All this trans-
forms in ‘lived experience” which will influence all our actions, decisions
and therefore designs.
28
 MAN IS NATURE The sublime experience can be translated as a feeling of belongings to
1.7 The sublime experience nature.
Sublime is the feeling of being part of a whole, which is bigger than us. A
whole that we can not completely understand even if we are part of it.
Since we don’t understand it completely, on one hand we are attracted from
it, but on the other hand we are scared. There is a dual presence of fear
and attraction that immobilize us in front of the beauty and power of nature.
This wonderful and majestic presence makes us feel complete but at the
same time disoriented and lost.
The sublime is experienced by humans as a titanic aspiration towards per-
fection, the rediscovery of nature as an expression of the absolute, the cen-
trality of the sensible world and emotions against the one of exaltation of
pure reason generated from the Enlightenment movement.

The romantic period sees men’s relationship with nature as its central dis-
cussion. Man is able to find his true identity only in contact with it. And
nature represents all the beauty and harmony of which man can enjoy. Nice
29
is then anything that, aesthetically speaking, arouses in man a feeling of
pleasure and harmony.
Moreover, in the Romance period the sublime is the manifestation of the
power of nature, in front of which man, inert, understands his membership
and at the same time inferiority. The romantic sublime, leave man amazed
and breathless, it involves an act of contemplation of humans in front of na-
ture. Man is there, in front of him is the concrete manifestation of the power
 of nature, and he is not able to control it and block it, he is only able to look
at it and put himself in connection with his deeper being.

In the 1970 Immanuel Kant returns to the concept of sublime in the ‘Critique
of Judgment’, enlarging it and distinguishing it in two different ones: The ‘dy-
namic sublime’ (expression of annihilating power of nature, in front of which
man becomes aware of his limit) and the ‘mathematical sublime’ (which
arises from the contemplation of immobile, majestic and timeless nature)
In front of the magnificence of nature man at first feels a sense of loss and
frustration, but also recognised, through the sublime experience, his be-
longings and somehow his superiority. As only being capable of creation of
moral action, he is placed on top of all creatures.
At the first type of sublime could belong frightening phenomena such as
hurricanes or large waterfalls; at the second type spaces without ending like
the desert, ocean and the sky. And is to this second group of landscapes
that I’m relating with my project.
According to Kant, the contemplation of this spectacle causes the mind to
30
become aware of his own rational limitations and to recognize the possibility
of a dimension that exist beyond the clear rationality, to be experienced on
a purely emotional way.
31
 MAN IS NATURE In the well known Friedrich’s paining, ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’ real-
1.8 A medium for the perception ized in 1818, a man is standing looking at the majesty of nature. The man
depicted is facing backwards in such way that he does not attract our at-
tention on him, but rather he helps us to relate to the nature in front of him.
He is not the main character of the painting; he is like an instrument, there
to help viewers’ perception. He is a medium that connects us with what is
in front of him.

In this case the man is the medium, and in the same way architecture can be
the medium for our perception of nature, the contemplation and the sublime
experience. Likewise in the painting, the architectural object should not be
the protagonist of the space but rather an instrument to help our perception
and to guide our experience through the space.

32
33
 MAN IS NATURE The architecture of the twentieth century can be identified in the separation
1.9 Human-Nature dichotomy between man and nature. The causes are to be found in the Cartesian domi-
nant thought, characterized by a clear separation between matter and spirit,
between abstract thought and nature.

The understanding of nature had radically changed during the time and the
Western point of view on it nowadays is to be considered mainly technocrat-
ic and utilitarian. Nature started to be seen as a commodity and a fount of re-
source. There is a general lost connection and lack of mere contemplation.

This dichotomous concept of nature is present as well today due to the

same basis for political and social order present in the Western world and
all the derivatives of the Enlightenment era. We feel we are justified to use
all the resources as we please and we continue to see ourselves very much
apart from nature and in need to “reconnect”. The common ground for our
cognitive split is deeply rooted in the Western modernization and reflects the
very core of the reigning democratic capitalism, which is the conviction that
34
people are not the same as other natural objects. The consequence of this
alienation, is that we feel we either own every display of nature and we can
treat it as a commodity (even as an aesthetic one), or that we are threatened
by it and must gain control over it in order to survive. This ontological base is
displayed in virtually every manifestation of human activity, and architecture
is one of the most prominent ones.
This vision had led to the construction of urban areas with no connection
to the outside world where the natural environment has disappeared to give
way to the human artifice.
Design is a deliberate intervention in our environment to ameliorate the con-
dition of our existence.
Sadly, this critical component of human identity has been insufficiently ac-
knowledged. We continue to view the relative success of civilization primary
in technological terms, to perpetrate the myth of progress mainly through
mechanical - technical means, rather than by measure of human advance-
ment and self-knowledge and relationship with nature.

The ancient architecture instead, was a measuring instrument and a refer-

ence between the cosmos and man, was able to place the man in com-
munion with the universe. Old agglomerations are perfectly integrated in the
context, and they create a symbolic relationship with it.

Contemporary design must find a balance between the issues that technol-
ogy and modern society have created while honouring primal desires, be-
35
tween external world and the inner self, and between function and beauty.

The design profession necessarily must deal with our fundamental sensory,
cognitive, and bodily needs as we embrace even more sophisticated and
exclusive technological and industrial advancements that threaten to further
distance us from our basic humanity.
The goal is to find a new way of design that must rediscover the past
 symbolism, the original humans needs and the human instinct, while using
the new technology. A balance with the primitive and the progress.

As shown in the comparative pictures, the earliest forms of ‘shelter’ main-

tained a delicate balance with the natural world, sometimes literally, as in
dwellings nestled in a cliff side. Early designers were cognizant of the role
that human interventions had on natural surroundings, a sensitivity that have
perhaps been lost, as the world we inhabit has been transformed into one
entirely of human design.

36
37
 MAN IS NATURE The work of the Canadian photographer Eduard Burtynsky focuses on in-
1.10 Image as an evidence dustrial landscapes and the transformation that nature accused through the
industry implantation. They are a strong documentation of the men’s exploi-
tation of the land. They can be taken as an example and as a critic of the
way we treat nature, somehow these images function as reflecting pools of
our times.
These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern exist-
ence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduc-
tion and fear. We are drawn by desire - a chance at good living, yet we
are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our
success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our con-
sumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy
contradiction.

The illustrations that follow, taken from the photographer, are tragic and
wondrous at the same time, they conjure up feelings of remorse and self-
disgust for all of humanity.
38
39
40
41
 transition
42 connection “The in-between is a discourse on the need for architecture to
filter reconcile spatial polarities such as inside-outside”
DEFINES BUT NOT LIMITS
“Man still breathes both in and out. Architecture should do the same”
tension
Aldo Van Eyck
interaction
43
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM How can we formally articulate this connection between different realms
2.1 Synergy between different realms such as the artifice and natural?

“That’s what I feel, an outside and an inside and me in the middle, perhaps
that’s what I am, the thing that divides the world in two, on the one side the
outside, on the other side the inside, that can be as thin as foil, I’m neither
one side nor the other, I’m in the middle, I’m the partition, I’ve two surfaces
and no thickness.”
Samuel Beckett, The Unameable

This quote is from Samuel Beckett’s novel, The Unnameable , published in

1953 as the third and final entry to his ‘Trilogy’ of novels. These brief few
lines, taken from the monologue of the unnamed protagonist, begin to open
up the idea of an ‘in-between’ place. The words of Beckett’s protagonist
identify the place which best describes where he feels he is positioned in
life -in the middle, neither one place nor another, belonging to neither yet
surrounded by and reliant on what it is he feels he exists between. This
44 description of the ‘in-between’ is, of course, a nonphysical space. It is more
an attitude or a feeling towards his existence, yet the imagery provokes
a more spatial understanding of his world; the interface between outside
and inside, the divide between two worlds, the existence of two surfaces
so closely related. But what is most striking is the identification of a third
element; the middle, as its own entity. One which has a presence, to the pro-
tagonist, just as strong and relevant as the conditions it exists between. He
describes it as a physical place, or position, as it is
somewhere, which he feels, he occupies and within
which he feels he can exist- however despairingly.

The in-between realm is therefore the discussion be-

tween two different realms that even if completely
different have a reciprocal relationship.

Those different identities, in a way relate to each

other and they are able to exist because of the exist-
ence of its opposite dimension.

Likewise, the “twin phenomenon” can be described

as a reciprocal relationship between two opposite
qualities, such as mass and void, which depend on
each other for their meaning.
In my research, the in-between realm is explored
45
and understood as a transitional moment between
artifice and nature. A perception process that goes
from the inside to the outside and occur in the tran-
sitional moment which is define and emphasised by
the building layout.
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM
2.2 Zen theory applied to the design
Meanwhile researching the concept of ‘transition’ and how to formally ex-
press it in the design, I identified the Zen approach to the design as a good
example. Not only for the formal expression but also for the meaning of each
gestures, and the way of confronting life and the connection between hu-
man beings and natural environment.

Zen’s ultimate goal is to archive a state of nothingness, nirvana, in a being

through meditation and enlightenment. It conceives of one absolute state
where the subject and the thinker merge into one, and there is no barrier
between the self and the other.
Zen principles strips away the unnecessary and leaving the essentials. It
also promote the idea of imperfection and incompleteness. They believe
one should be as close to nature as possible. Beauty consists of their sur-
rounding to be simple, unadorned, imperfect, asymmetrical, unsophisti-
cated, and limited. With this drastic ideas of beauty in mind, instead of a
shelter from nature architecture became a place for one to meditate and feel
closer to nature. Architecture become unadorned, simple, and incomplete,
46
because it is easier to blur the line between object and self when things are
simple. Zen architecture is nature.
If the idea for the individual was to blur the line between object and self, the
idea for architecture was to blur the line between the exterior and interior.

In the Zen design practice, points and lines that drew the outline of the tem-
ples or the gardens were designed to communicate something more than a
mere physical presence of a useful or social structure.
Zen is also considered an art of living, a way of being and, especially in
terms of perception leads us to see and appreciate the true nature, the func-
tion of each being, each act and each object.
The Zen approach applied to the design and architecture sees the almost
fanatical search for simplicity of the expression in:
- the empty and multi- purpose spaces;
- the construction materials left freely exposed to communicate their sincer-
ity;
- the use of indirect and soft lighting;
- the search for unity between indoor and outdoor spaces;
The goal is the essence and the perception. Zen temples and building in
general, are like spatial narrative, a sheaf of vistas which define but not limit.

In Zen design the objects are usually metaphorical not just simple elements
related to functions.
The exquisite traditional Japanese house has been compared to an out-
47
sized umbrella erected over the landscape, not dominating its surroundings
but providing a shaded space for living amid nature.
The Japanese house is one of those all too rare earthly creations that tran-
scend the merely utilitarian, that attend as closely to man’s interior needs as
to his physical comfort.
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM
2.3 The significance of shadows
A book that has been great source of inspiration and also a deeper un-
derstanding of the Japanese culture is In Praise of Shadows, written by
Junichiro Tanizaki.
In Praise of Shadows reminds us of other realms, other feelings that ar-
chitectural space can evoke, ways of designing for repose, reflection, and
solitude in a world that places emphasis on striving, action, and noise. It
presents a different way of envisioning space, less “hot” and dynamic and
more deep and subtle.
According to the author, architecture should not be flashy. It would be so
cutting edge to design the anti-flashy, the anti-“hot”, the anti-sexy, anti-in-
novation yet innovative, in a way. It would take a subtle hand and a high
measure of restraint in an era when it is possible to design and build just
about anything out of anything.

As Tanizaki concludes:
“I have thought that there might still be somewhere, possibly in literature
or in the arts, where something could be saved.” Could the shadow world
48
of subtle phenomena also be saved in architecture? Can we turn off some
of the lights? A few, at least? Can we have just a little less of the shiny and
bright? What on earth would a shadowy skyscraper look like? And not just
shadowy in terms of light, but in its elemental qualities, its material sensa-
tion, the way it “stands”.
The shadow gives shape and life to the object in light. It also provides the
realm from which fantasies and dreams arise. The art of chiaroscuro is a skill
of master architect too. In great architectural spac-
es, there is a contrast, deep breathing of shadow
and light; shadow inhales and illumination exhales
light.

49
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM
2.4 A hidden dimension |
the space between the forms
50
There is a strong connection between the volume and the space created
by the forms. Plastic arts, but also architecture are, as a matter of fact, a
function of the space.
The space cannot be considered as something external to the form; some-
thing that just surrounds the volume, but rather those volumes contributes to
create the space that becomes a presence itself. This space must be able
to be perceived as well as the form in which it occurs. The space created
has expressive properties, it transposes the material that surrounds it in mo-
tion, it determines the proportions and it scans its rhythms.
The strong separation of exterior and interior, or between object and its
surrounding disappears. Is not the form itself to affect the artist actions, but
rather the relation between the form and its surrounding, the connection that
arise between them, the link between full and empty. Therefore, the space
between the forms is not a simple lack of something or the nothingness,
but rather a hidden dimension, retracted and not visible without which the
shape could not take place.
The same for example, applies to the silence, which gives to the sound a
chance to exists and to unfolds in its modulations. The vacuum, guards
inside itself each possible spatial configuration, and preserves the invisible
source of all presences. Is the matter of being able to listen to “the sound
of emptiness” coming to shape the material, and this applies to any form
of expression, be it sculpture, architecture or even painting. Is by limiting
the space, that the space all of the sudden becomes perceptible as a pres-
ence, and it is through the matter that the space can be shaped and
defined, is therefore clear how the two appearances
are inseparable.
Is the whole that is able to makes sense out of the
details and the different components of the space.

51
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM This case study research has been made on a compositional level. The
2.5 Case study research three analysed projects’ floor plans
have been intuitively decomposed in their primary compositional elements.
This in order to capture and reveal the inner structure and compositional
rules used by the architects.

After splitting the different tools used for the composition, a painting has
been made for each of the project, in order to intuitively try to express and
grasp a deeper understanding of their framework.

The analysed projects:

52

TADAO ANDO | Vitra Congres Centre

MIES VAN DER ROHE | The Barcelona Pavilion

PETER ZUMTHOr | Vals Therms

53
 planes

pure geometrical
forms

DYNAMIC SPACE

orthogonal
irregular grid

54

rotated irregular grid

TADAO ANDO | Vitra Congres Centre

abstract interpretation
 planes

pillars

FLUID SPACE

orthogonal regular
grid

56

orthogonal irregular
grid

MIES VAN DER ROHE | The Barcelona Pavilion

abstract interpretation
 volumes

orthogonal regular MATERIAL SPACE

grid

58

orthogonal irregular
grid

PETER ZUMTHOr | Vals Therms

abstract interpretation
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM After being analysing the compositional rules of the design composition, a
2.6 The space shaper step forward has been made.
Which are the physical elements that we actually use to shape the space?
which are the primary elements?

Three main element has been identified as space shapers:

the pillar, the plane and the volume

This primary elements help us to define architectural spaces.

They can be use as separation of different realms:
inside - outside;
inside - inside;
outside - outside.

They become the space structure, and in relation to the way they are used
they can create complete different interaction between the users and the
space.
60

Playing with forms in architecture sparks an

interaction between a person and his spatial world.
This interaction can provides a feeling of freedom
and sense of discovery.
Tridimensional investigation

61
62

landmark rhythm grid free movement

punctual object regular | irregular regular | irregular fluid space

 landmark
punctual object
63
rhythm
grid
freedom in the movement

PILLAR
64

divide welcome protect direct define the path

dynamism
 refuse welcome
aggressive defensive
violent protective
separate connect

THE WALL
A wall cuts the space, it’s almost violent

65

The wall : is a LIMIT

it breaks the continuity
but it can at the same time helps the CONNECTION
66

landmark spatial hierarchy material space free movement

atmosphere fluid space

sculptural space
 materiality
hierarchy
fluid space

atmosphere
division
darkness and light

VOLUMES
fluid space
67
 THE IN-BETWEEN REALM At the same time there is an added quality linked to the space which is the
2.7 The meaning of space value that we attribute to it. And in this precise moment the space become
a place.
The concept of space, according to Bachelard in his book The Poetic of
Space, is intended both as an open space of the great horizons (in other
words, sky, sea, desert etc) or the bounded one of the home. The home
is seen as a space of ‘intimate immensity’ where all our experiences can
take place, being at home could be translated in being with themselves, a
place where to shelter and find yourself. The house protects us physically
from many different factors such as the cold, wind, rain, but it also protect
sour privacy, it become the image of intimacy. According to the philosopher,
the house protects the dreams especially because it allows us to dream in
pace. In fact, in humans, material places become symbols and imagery,
therefore we can say that in addition to inhabit them we are inhabited as
well, and then choosing them means to determine also the colour, the mem-
ory and the smells of it.
68
The SPACE is not perceived as a solid volume to be filled in with pictures
and objects, but something unlimited and incalculable which can only be
suggested by the relationship between the users and the objects.
alienation

solitude
disorientation

sorrow

oppression

coldness 69
70

repetition scale and proportion prospective shadows

 71

repetition scale and proportion prospective material shadows

72 I do not believe in experience.
I think that is conservative.
I believe in perception, that is another thing.
It is more risky and more progressive.

Eduardo Chillida
73
 THE BODY MEMORY This chapter of the research is dedicated to the senses, seen as the only means
3.1 The power of perception that can lead to a real perception of the world and therefore of the built environ-
ment. All this to develop an ‘architecture of the senses’, an architecture able to
create atmosphere and feelings.

When we enter a building or we see a room, in a fraction of a second we have

a feeling about it.
One word for it is atmosphere. We perceive atmosphere through our emotion-
al sensibility, which is a form of perception that works incredibly quickly, and
which we humans evidently need to help us survive.

The only way to perceive is the sensible sphere. The pure perception leads to
a higher level of knowledge.
This statement wants to bring the attention on the sensorial experience that one
can have meanwhile walking through the space, whether this is architectural
or natural.

74 The bodily experience could be compared to a storage of memories and expe-

riences that combine together lead us to a different level of knowledge, based
on the sensorial experience.
The world is reflected in the body, and the body is projected onto the world.
We remember though our bodies as much as through our nervous system and
brain.
The senses do not only mediate information for the judgment of the intellect;
they are also a means of articulating sensory thought.
I believe that every touching experience of architecture is multi-sensory;
qualities of matter, space, and scale are measured equally by eyes, ears,
nose, skin, tongue, skeleton and muscles. Architecture involves five realms
of sensory experience, which interact and influence each other.
A walk through a forest or a Japanese garden, for instance, is invigorating
and healing because of the essential interaction of all sense modalities rein-
forcing each other; our sense of reality is thus strengthened and articulated.

Man is part of the world and its through his physical experience that he can
relate to it. There is no inner man; man is in the world, it is within the world
that he knows himself.
Architecture could be seen as the art of reconciliation between ourselves
and the world, and this mediation takes place through the senses.

The goal is to develop a sensory architecture in opposition to the prevailing

75
visual understanding of the art of building.

If architecture can be said to have a poetic meaning we must recognize that

what is says is not independent of what it is. Architecture is not an experi-
ence that words translate later. Like the poem itself, it is its figure as pres-
ence, which constitutes the means and the experience.
76 The only way to perceive is the sensible sphere. The pure perception leads
to a higher level of knowledge.
77
 THE BODY MEMORY Abstraction is the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events. It deals
3.2 Abstraction of the elements with memory and finds its rest in one’s own mind. Memory of something
known in the past, that help us in constructing our body of words and be-
haviour towards things.

By expressing the natural element with a picture of it, an image or a noise,

rather than having it physically, the memory of it can be surprisingly much
more enriching than real element.
The whole point of the design is to capture the things that people normally
overlook and repropose them in a new way , in order to generate thoughts
and feelings.

78
 ABSTRACTION OF NATURE
79
creating natural feelings with architecture
 The sensation of sun rays filtered by trees’ tops

80
 holes in the sailing

81

use of natural fibres

positioning of constructing material

82

The calming sound and feeling of heavy rain

 Rain Room is a hundred square metre field of falling water through which it is pos-
sible to walk, trusting that a path can be navigated, without being drenched in the
process.
As you progress through The Curve, the sound of water and a suggestion of moisture
fill the air, before you are confronted by this carefully choreographed downpour that
rAndom international: rain room at barbican responds to your movements and presence.

83
 The change in prospective can give to the users a
completely different perception of nature

84
 THE BODY MEMORY
3.3 Framing the world

Photography and in the same way architectural

must create a composition able to point out views,
feelings, and sensations. By framing the world
around us we are able to focus on certain elements
that usually we tent to overlook. By selecting only
part of the view and enhancement is made on the
perception of nature.

experimenting with photography

85
 This landscape arise from the sublime of the enraged sky, and from the silence of a mute
landscape, shadow less, almost surreal.

86

FRAMING THE WORLD

the perception of the space
 VERTICAL VIEW HORIZONTAL ELEMENT
working with the contrast

horizon
87
horizontal element
88

FRAMING THE WORLD

the perception of the space
CURVILINEAR AND SOFT ELEMENT STRAIGHT AND LINEAR CUT
working with the contrast

89
90

FRAMING THE WORLD

the perception of the space
91
92
VERTICAL ELEMENT HORIZONTAL VIEW
working with the contrast

93
 I want to cut pieces of the sky

94

FRAMING THE WORLD

the perception of the space
95
 THE BODY MEMORY The percept of the body and the image of the world turn into one single con-
3.4 Architecture as an art of mediation tinuous existential experience; there is no body separated from its domicile
space, ad there is no space unrelated to unconscious image of the perceiv-
ing self.
Architecture is essentially an extension of nature into the man-made realm,
providing the ground for perception and the horizon of experiencing and
understanding the world. It is not an isolated and self-sufficient artefact; It
directs our attention and existential experience to wider horizons.
Architecture strengthens the existential experience, one’s sense of being
in the world, and this is essentially a strengthened experience of self. But
even more, an architectural space frames, halts, strengthens and focuses
our thoughts, and prevents them from getting lost.
Architecture is the art of reconciliation between ourselves and the world,
and this mediation takes place through the senses and spaces that have
emotional resonance can be said to evoke a range of responses.

The timeless task of architecture is to create embodied existential meta-

96
phors that concretes and structure man’s being in the world.
Images of architecture reflect and externalize ideas and images of life; ar-
chitecture is able to materialize our images of ideal life. Buildings and towns
enable us to structure, understand, and remember who we are. Architecture
enable us to place ourselves in the world and create a connection with it.
All experience implies the acts of recollecting, remembering and compar-
ing. An embodied memory had essential role as the basis of remembering
a space or a place. Our home and domicile are integrated with our self-
identity; they become part of our body and being.
In memorable experience of architecture, space matter and time fuse into
one single dimension, into the basic substance of being, that penetrates
the consciousness. We identify ourselves with this space, this place, this
moment and these dimensions, as they become ingredients of our very ex-
istence. Architecture can be seen as an art of mediation and reconciliation.
Architecture, more fully than other art form, engages the immediacy of our
sensory perceptions. The passage of time; light shadow and transpar-
ency; colour phenomena, texture, material and detail all participate in the
complete experience of architecture. Architecture is able to simultaneously
awake all the sense and all the complexity of perception.

Architecture by Unifying foreground, middle ground, and distant views, ties

perspective to detail and material to space. Only an architectural object
itself offers the tactile sensation of textured stone surfaces and polished
wooden pews, the experience of light changing with movement, the smell
97
and the resonant sound of space, the bodily relations of scale and propor-
tion. All these sensations combine within one complex experience, which
becomes articulate and specific and at the same time wordless. The build-
ing speaks through the silence of perceptual phenomena.
98 Inwardly the structure is a medium to lead one’s attention
exteriorly. The form is a function of the purpose, the
contemplation of nature.
99
 THE BODY MEMORY
3.5 A presence in the space

100 The space will be anonymous until you place limits on it.
Before my works were protagonists, now they should become means to make the space pro-
tagonist.
And this is not anonymous anymore.
To certain extends seems natural to join and compare architecture with art,
specially with sculpture, since they do not only addresses similar themes
but also works with the same materials and same space. A lot of similarities
can be found between sculpture and architecture, and that might be due to
the fact that both are creative expressions and both deal with spaces and
humans in an interactive way. So basically architecture can be considered
like sculpture but with an added value, which is basically the function, to
which follows the technical part.
Even if we are more used to speak about feeling e perception when we are
looking at an artistic masterpiece, is undeniable that architecture is closely
linked to art, and moreover architecture influences, with its continuous pres-
ence, our everyday life.
Architecture is made by humans for humans and the interaction between
architectural object and subject that uses it, is an issue to be not entirely
missed.

101
 THE BODY MEMORY
3.6 A new protagonist: the Landscape

“They go out into the desert and onto the oceans. There, where it is loneliest, they en-
102
gage in their games with elements. Generally, only a camera observes their activities.
Their transient works are quickly scattered by the wind, washed over by water. As well,
where this works enjoy the protection of museums - and are continually renewed and
maintained - they are homage to the past.
A new myth of nature has infected the fine arts”

John Anthony Thwaites | Land Art definition | 1969

I see the Land Art experience as a reference for my design in the way those
artists approached the landscape and in the way they were able to create
a strict connection between the work of art and the environment. Those two
realities, the sculpture and the land, where firmly dependent on each other.
This is the kind of relationship that I want to achieve in my design.

If looking back at the history, though landscape and nature in general, have
always been important themes in literature and art, but each time with a dif-
ferent meaning and different approach.
In ancient pastoral poetry it was the idyllic setting of rural life. Since the 14th
century, the landscape’s forms and colours have been recorded, drawn and
translated into art. In the 18th century nature was the fist spring of inspira-
tion in philosophical writings, where for example a view of incomprehensibly
distant mountains served to describe the feeling of sublime.
In the 20th century, all landscapes images that contradict our customary
viewing habits have become emblematic of the cultural programmes of Sur-
realism, Expressionism and Futurism. The representation of nature was a
103
manifestation of another way of seeing and perceiving the world and the art.
But is just around the 1968 that landscape as an art theme, took on an un-
expected, anti-symbolic dimension, when a small group of American and
European artist developed designs, concepts and projects employing new
and unconventional techniques and materials, and different location and
dimensions. The landscape was no longer just described in text or depicted
in paintings, but also used as an artistic material.
 Since than, there has been a radical shift in the way nature interacted with
art, especially in terms of medium: from the canvas to the earth. And the way
viewers were getting in touch with the new art: no more a passive observa-
tion, but rather an interactive and sensorial experience in the space.

Land Art is an artistic movement, in which the language investigation simul-

taneously invests the more proper linguistic aspect of art, and those related
to its cultural and physical context. Both areas starts from the same motive:
the goal is to dramatically expand the possible scope of art until it coin-
cides with the whole reality, both physical and mental. The main element,
is therefore the interest in the creative process; by acting on the territory is
implicit the idea of the insufficiency of the traditional understood artwork, but
instead, is the idea itself and the conceptual operation the main concern,
which bring into play the eternal relationship between man and the world.
What art covers is something that keeps on change, which does not need
to get to a point that is final in respect of time and space. The common idea
that, the work is an irreversible process that ends with a static icon-object,
104
it is now outdated. The artwork is not anymore an object but the process.

The dimension of natural sublime, in which those artists intervene, is radi-

cally opposed to the cold, artificial and geometric monumentality of the me-
tropolis.
The choice of the locations fall always on open fields, far away from the cit-
ies and urbanization. Very often they chose the extensive desert areas
of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The desert is seen as unspoilt,
meditative natural environment, in contrast to the complexity of the cities,
where elements like the endless expanses, arid ground, cloudless sky,
scorching sun, remoteness, silence and desolation come to play a central
role. The perception of the boundless space and the unique quality of the
experience of nature, become therefore their main concerns. In a way, they
are wanting to lead humans to listen the world that is all around them, all the
sounds, colours and all his fragrances, hear what’s around us even when is
the sound of the silence. The Land Art’s works are like ‘instruments’ able to
guide the viewer and his perception through the space.

Somehow, those interventions want also to emphasize spatial orientation.

The kind of landscape chosen, in fact is usually a neutral ground, which pro-
vides the individual with no spatial orientation and, hence, with no existential
security. By placing an object into an open field is possible to transform the
nameless site into a recognizable place.
To summarize, I see the Land Art movement as a reference for my design in
105
the way those artists approached the landscape and in the way they were
able to create a strict connection between the land, the art object and the
human perception of it.
 JAMES TURRELL | Stone sky What characterizes James Turrell’s artistic development, is definitely the
constant research on the relationship between light, space and the viewer.
He wants people to be able to perceive the light almost as a physical pres-
ence, he want to ensure that the quality and the feeling of light itself, in some
ways is really close to the touch. His approach is not to take possession of
nature, but rather is to put the viewer in touch with it. Consistently with the
land art’s thinking, in regards to the relationship between object and space,
also Turrell wants his works not to be a look on something, but a look into
something, not a placement of a mass but an intervention in the space, not
objects in a room but rather the room itself. In terms of scale and usability,
to some extent his works are almost closer to architecture rather than to the
commonly understood plastic arts.

His aim is to realize an ‘architecture’ made of light and space, a topological

architecture. This does not mean that he does not take care of perimeters
and shapes, but instead he wants to make more relevant what is located in
the interstice, what is in between the objects. It is a very simple architecture,
106
the architecture of light.
 By framing the unlimited sky is possible to give a 107

tangible presence to it, and at the same time to put

the user in communication with it.
 NANCY HOLT | Sun Tunnels Nancy Holt must be considered as one of the few women who actively
participated in the Land Art Movement. Holt began her artistic career as
a photographer and as video maker artist, and this involvement with pho-
tography and camera optics definitely influenced all her subsequent Land
Art’s works, which are literally ‘seeing devices’, fixed points for tracing the
position of the sun, Earth and stars.

Another of her main concerns where related to the perception of time and
space. Her works always deal with the issues of how people perceive time
and space, the various monumental works that she realized blend and com-
plete the environment in witch they arise. Her works usually do not merely sit
in their environments, but are made of the land, stand on it and are created
to be harmonious with it. Moreover, the artist always deal with the human
scale in relation to the work she creates, people are allowed to interact with
the works and become more aware of space, of their own visual percep-
tion, and of the order of the universe. Holt strongly believe that people have
within them a basic need to observe the sky, ant that is why whit her works,
108
she tries to create an intimate connection to nature and stars which, as a
matter of fact, is important to remember, had always been considered as
means of human orientation.

Sun Tunnels is one of her most intimate and expressive work. It took from
1973 to 1976 to be installed in the remote area of the Great Basin Desert in
the northwest Utah. The installation consists in four concrete tubes, each of
which was almost six metres long, three meters in diameter, and many tons
in weight, placed in two lines to form an open X shape. The Sun Tunnels
are axially oriented on the sun’s farthest position above the horizon during
summer and winter solstices. Drilled holes of different sizes embellish each
of the four concrete elements and their patterns correspond to four con-
stellations. The concrete tubes concentrate the view of the landscape and
the light, sharpening one’s perception of the seemingly boundless desert
panorama.
Despite their industrial production, the Sun Tunnels do not seem out of a
place because both their colour and their material fit into the desert land-
scape. The artist conceived the work as inseparable from the site, because
of the specific local topographic contour, formed the piece down in the last
detail. The artwork become like a landmark in to the open field.

109

110
“The panoramic view of the landscape is too overwhelming to
take in without visual reference points. The view blurs out rather than
sharpens. Through the tunnels, parts of the landscape are framed and
come into focus.”

Nancy Holt
by limiting the unlimited is possible to give human scale to
the infinite

111
 THE BODY MEMORY With the change of scale or the strict selection of certain elements reality
3.7 transmitted image can be altered and all of the sadden becoming the representation of some-
thing different than it actually is.
Therefore reality is relative and is strictly linked to our sensory perception of
things and on our memories of those experiences.

112 “The meaning of a work of art lies not in its forms but in the images
transmitted by the forms and the emotional forces that they carry.”

Juhani Pallasmaa
113
 sand drawings - Therschelling

114
sand drawings - Therschelling

115
4. CONCLUSION In a way, what the research want to demonstrate is, how primary elements
such as: light, simple shapes, natural materials and symbolism should be-
come the main tools for the design process. This kind of architecture that
the research leads toward, can be considered almost as a critic against
the usual design, where the architectural objects are usually designed as
protagonists in the space without any dialogue with the nature and the sur-
rounding. Hence, in my design product the architectural object becomes a
medium for humans’ perception of the natural environment.
Inwardly the structure should be a medium to lead ones attention exteriorly
and create an intimate connection between the two.
Architecture is the transitional point, is the edge between nature and artifice
and it is on this precise edge that the dialogue takes place.
This edge should defines but not limits, should be like a filter, a transitional
space able to create a tension but at the same time be a connection be-
tween two different realms such as nature and build environment.
The architectural object is considered as an enhancement of the natural
landscape, a spatial research to achieve a place for harmony between hu-
117
man and nature. The same goes for the shape of the architectural object.
Inside the condition of being in a pure form with an instantly understandable
geometry, the space washes away any attention towards the architecture
itself. Ultimately the form is a function of the purpose, the contemplation of
nature.
119
 THE PROJECT
5.1 The statement

THE SPATIAL INTERVENTION WANT TO REMINDS US :

Of the essence of human life

Of the existence of different realms

Of other feelings that architectural spaces can evoke

120

Of ways of designing for repose, reflection and solitude in a

world that usually places emphasis on striving, action and noise

The goal is a different way of envisioning spaces, less “hot”and dynamic

and more deep and subtle
After analysing all the previous topics and references, I came to conclusion
that the architectural object that I want to design must be explored as inter-
play between nature and a composition of forms. This exploration focuses
on the relationship between inside and outside in order to create a place for
the contemplation, which unites nature with the man-made.
Architecture involves the interaction between nature and the man-made.
Because architecture must be built upon the land, a relationship is estab-
lished between the architecture and its surrounding. While there are several
types of relationships that can be established, this thesis project deals with
one in which a dialogue is created between the two. The architecture acts
in response to nature.

Playing with forms in architecture sparks an interaction between a person

and his spatial world. This interaction can provides a feeling of freedom and
sense of discovery. The interaction between a person and this spatial world
is the simulation and catalyst for creativity.
121
The goal is to create a space which can become like a “house of inspira-
tion”, which will engages individuals with themselves and others, and where
nature would serve as a common source of inspiration and meditation.
The final design will be a composition of forms which uses the relationship
of the inside-outside in order to reveal the qualities of the location and unite
the artificial object with nature.
 The task of architecture is not to entertain us, or to suffocate us with impres-
sions of witty formal investigations, but to create the silence, calmness and
concentration that would allow us to experience the beauty of the world and
life around us. Architecture should be humble.

The architectural product must be composed by a sequence of spaces able

to point out views, feelings, and sensations.

122
 THE PROJECT The project will be a conscious intervention in the island of Terschelling.
5.2 A dialogue with the island Terschelling is an island in the North see, part of the Netherlands’ territory,
one of the West Frisian Island belonging to the interstitial zone called Wad-
den Sea.
The landscape in this area is characterised by a continuous transition be-
tween different kind of landscapes, part of which natural and part of which
modified by humans.
The project will be a transitional element in its own and connector at the
same time, since it is placed on the border between the wildest part of the
island, in the extreme east (the Boschplaat | east Terschelling) and the men-
touched part of the island on the west.
It is understood that the wild nature on the island is beautiful in its pure state
and that this beauty could never be recreated. This project, however, is
about creating an architectural space which reveals the beauty and the soul
of the island in new way.
From north to south a straight path will shelter and direct the users move-
ment, and at the same time connects the different buildings.
123
This straight ‘line’ will go from the sea to the dunes, from the pound to the
prairie and from the prairie to the bushes following a common language.
A linear route will permeates the nature with a diachronic rhythm, touch-
ing the land, fading away, merging and rising again in the mute maritime
landscape.

This Island could be considered ad a perfect location for people to hide, to

 rest, to disconnect from cities and listen to the silence.
In a three-dimensional landscape a symbolic dissection of nature opens the
body of the earth to the blind eyes of everyday visitor.
Soil, water and air reveal their hidden presence, unveiling the invisible reali-
ties that are under our eyes constantly but that nobody sees.
This architecture is understood as a series of spatial experiences that guide
people to the rediscovery of their inner self and the natural world.

The immense emptiness of the dune’s landscapes, radiate a strange ap-

peal and emotional power. These setting erase the traces of man and evoke
an experience of timelessness. The almost total absence of vegetation ex-
poses the naked skin of the earth and turns the landscape into a tactile and
muscular experience. The landscape becomes like an extension of the
human skin.
The sublime vastness of the location provides a ‘tabula rasa’ for the design
of this new creative element, which will be capable of putting into connec-
tion man and nature.
124
Here, among nature’s heart will stand the new intervention, a building with a
concept of nature’s elements and spiritual retreat.

Simplicity is the key word in the whole project. This building is created for
physical and spiritual rest and so it has to be as clean of detail as possible.
In this space one can relax and be in one with themselves and nature. This
project provides a most natural enclosed environment that isolates you from
the outside world but doesn’t allow you to lose contact with it.
The design process of the building is therefore relaying predominantly on
intuition. The design should be able to provide a space of intimate experi-
ences; the sound, smells, tactile qualities, and moods should be in a way
considered more important than the object itself. The act of seeing through
the window or entering the door is considered as first moment of interaction.
An architecture that develops in its deliberate simplicity, that gently nudges
people on to a more engaging multisensory experience and heightens the
awareness of actually being in the place.

Great effort was invested to minimize the physical impact of the buildings
insertion in such a fragile environment, while at the same time attempting
to create a place that would serve as a backdrop to life and strengthen the
sacred connections to the awe-inspiring mystical landscape.

Our experience and sensibilities can evolve through reflective and silent
analysis. To open ourselves to perception, we must transcend the mundane
125
urgency of “things to do”. We must try to access that inner life which reveals
the luminous intensity of the world. Only through solitude we can begin to
penetrate the secret around us. An awareness of one’s unique existence in
space is essential in developing a consciousness of perception.
In a way it can be said that we shape the building and the building shape
the nature and us.
 THE PROJECT
5.3 formal translation

126
The subtle modulation of sharp edges, cleanliness and smooth
surfaces are what stimulate our senses and therefore our percep-
tion.
 127

first sketches
128 Architecture is a kind of anatomy

Architecture is like a body; movement, balance, distance and scale are

felt unconsciously through the body as tensions in the muscular system
and in the position of the skeleton and inner organs. In a way, the works
interacts with the body of the observer and the experience somehow mir-
rors these bodily sensations of the maker.
129
130 The SPINE is able to held the whole structure, to allow the movement and
also to give a sense to the whole.
131
132 Breaking the geometric rigidity of the line, while maintaining its mean-
ing and its
directional function
133
134 Even if just by the use of horizontal lines is visible from this drawings
how many different compositions is possible to create.
Therefore even when using the simplest elements is possible to create a
certain level of complexity.
135
136 The transitional moment
 from being lost to being guided

from darkness to light

137

dissolving matter
 Dissolving matter

138
139
 landscape | how the building dialogues with the landscape

building skyline
inside movement

dunes trend
140

building volume
141
142

generation of forms
143
 building | composition and meanings

initiation introspection transition contemplation

144

blocks composition monolith retaining walls empty room

the building | floorplan - elevation
N

145
 the building | floorplan - elevation

section AA

A
A

146

A A

N
 the building | cross sections
G G
section GG

F F

section FF

E E

section EE

D D
section DD

147

section CC

C C

N
B B

section BB
 labyrinth | initiation

148

LIGHT

VIEW

SOUND PROVED
 the cave | introspection

150

LIGHT

VIEW

SOUND PROVED
 sky | transition

152

LIGHT

VIEW

SOUND PROVED
 horizon | contemplation

154

LIGHT

VIEW

SOUND PROVED
IMAGE REFERENCES P.11
Alone a boy was standing | Photo: Bobbie | web source
P.15 (from left to right)
- Leaf C-41 | Photo: Len Komanac | web source
- Human blood vessels | Photo: Alamy | web source
- Amazon river delta | photo: SPL / Barcroft Media | web source
P.17
Nest, art and nature | Nils Udo | web source
P.19
Man in the cave | Phot: Karezoid michael karcz | web source
P.20
Lamb | Photo: Alex Stoddard | web source
P.23
- The myth of the cave, Plato | web source
- Egypt pyramids of Giza | web source
- Colosseum in Rome | web source
- Pigeon Point Lighthouse, California | web source
P.31
Man staring at the waterfall | Photo: Dimitar Variysky | web source
P.33
The wanderer above sea fog | Friederich, 1818 | web source
P.37 (from left to right)
- Mesa Verde national park | Colorado | web source
- San Paulo, Brazil | bird eye view | web source
P.39
Shipbreaking #11 Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2000 | photo: Eduard Burtynsky
P.40
Oxford Tire Pile #9b Westley, California, USA, 1999 | photo: Eduard Burtynsky
P.41
Oil Fields #19a Berlige, California, USA, 2003 | photo: Eduard Burtynsky
P.47
Kengo Kuma, Japan 2009 | photo: Jadraka Ahlgren | web source
P.49
In praise of Shadows, 2008 | photo: Steve Durbin | web source
P.51
Edzkadi VII | Eduardo Chillida | lithograph
P.53
- Vitra Congress Centre | Tadao Ando
- The Barcellona Pavillon | Mies Van der Rohe
- Vals Thermal bath | Peter Zumthor
P.69 159
Holocaust Memorial | Peter Eisenman | Berlin 2005
P.71
views on Holocaust Memorial | Peter Eisenman | Berlin 2005
P.73
Un Chien Andalou | Salvador Dali | 1929
IMAGE REFERENCES P.79
Dawn in the Ranges | photo: Anuja Manchanayake | web source

P.81 (from left to right)
- Kolumba, wall detail | Peter Zumthor | Cologne
- Prayer Pavillon | emergency onlus | Khartum | Sudan 2007
- Rain Room | rAndom International | 2012

P.83
Marquise do Parque do Ibirapuera | San Paulo | Brazil | Oscar Niemeyer 1952

P.85
England | Richard Long, 1967

P.107
Stone Sky | James Turrell, 2005

P.111
Sun Tunnels | Nancy Holt | Utah 1973

P.129 (from left to right)

- Naked back 1 | photo: Klaus Kampert
- Bodies | photo: Nadav Kander
161
P.131
- Line composition | unknown | web source
- Concetto spaziale | Lucio Fontana 1949
- Black | Maria Eugenia Mayobre
- Line composition | unknown | web source
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Udo Weilacher | Between Landscape Architecture and Land Art | Birkhauser, Basel 1999
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Alberto Campo Baeza | ALBERTO CAMPO BAEZA Idea, Light and Gravity | TOTO Publishing

Belo Rodeia, Joao | AIRES MATEUS | Gili, 2003

Gessel, M. | IN TOUCH | Blauwdruk, 1012

Betsky, Aaron | LANDSCRAPERS: building with the land | Thames and Hudson, 2002

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Plummer, Henry | THE ARCHITECTURE OF NATURAL LIGHT | 2009

THE LAST FREEDOM, From the pioneers of Land Art in the 1960s to Nature in Cyberspace | Silvana Editoriale, 2011
Shashi Caan | RETHINKING DESIGN AND INTERIORS, human beings in the built environment | Laurence King Publishing, 2011

Juhani Pallasmaa | THE EYE OF THE SKIN: Architecture and the Senses | John Wiley & Sons, 2012

S. E. Rasmussen | EXPERIENCING ARCHITECTURE | Chapman and Hall, 1964 163

Michael Lailach | LAND ART | Taschen , 2004

Donata Valentien, RETURN OF LANDSCAPE, Akademie der Kunste

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Peter Zumthor | THINKING ARCHITECTURE | Birkhauser, Basel 2004
BIBLIOGRAPHY Junichiro Tanizaki | Libro D’ombra | Tascabili Bompiani, Bologna 2011
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Peter Collins | CHANGING IDEALS IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE | Faber and Faber, London

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Jacobson Clare | Rick Joy | Princeton Architectural Press, 2002

165